NHL Trades and Rumors
William Nylander Hinting He Isn’t In for a Lengthy Retool with the Maple Leafs?
William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs are in uncharted territory, with much of the future unknown.
William Nylander hasn’t missed the playoffs since his 22-game stint as a rookie with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2015–16, so the 2025–26 season has been difficult for him and the rest of the core group to handle.
Nine straight seasons of cruising through the regular season to make the playoffs has come to a crashing halt in the search to make it ten in a row, and that has raised plenty of questions around the future of the organization as a whole. Nylander and Auston Matthews are at the forefront of it, and the former’s comments during Tuesday’s media availability might suggest he’s not in for more of the same that’s gone on this season should some sort of retool take place.
When asked whether he believes missing the postseason this year was just a one-off, Nylander gave an interesting answer that included a lack of assurance about what could happen if that’s not the case.
“I mean hard to really stay optimistic in this situation, but yeah, just try to get a win tonight… Yeah, I mean, I sure hope that that’s the case for sure, otherwise… yeah,”
The 29-year-old Nylander is in the second year of the eight-year, $92 million extension he signed with the Maple Leafs in 2024, which includes a full no-movement clause. He has remained productive through it all this season, with 59 points (21 goals, 38 assists) tallied across 47 games played.
TSN insider Pierre LeBrun recently reported that important conversations will be had this summer between Matthews and the front office, and that his sense is it’s 50-50 whether the captain stays or moves as a result of them. Given that, you have to think the exact same discussions will need to take place with Nylander, and his dissatisfaction with all of this season’s losing could give us an idea of what he may be thinking should he not like the direction or plan.
It’s still premature to begin speculating about how things will transpire, but the thought of serious change involving the likes of Matthews and/or Nylander will only come up more and more the uglier things get to finish out the campaign.
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